Customers of Great Dog in North Seattle turned quite snarly after learning the city was threatening to shut down the doggie-day-care side of the business for allegedly violating neighborhood zoning restrictions.

We're talking about the dog owners, not the canines.

In a city where dogs outnumber kids, humans have obediently rallied in support of Great Dog co-owners Leslie Csokasy and Judith Anderson-Wright, writing more than 200 letters that question the city's logic at classifying doggie day-care the same as a kennel. While city code prohibits kennels from operating within a neighborhood commercial zone, it is silent on doggie day cares, having never anticipated them.

Great Dog's pooches are sent home with their owners at the end of the day. For that reason, Csokasy and Anderson-Wright say the service they provide is more akin to children's day care than a kennel, where dogs are boarded overnight.

Their analogy does not seem far-fetched to Vanessa Fukunaga of Redmond, who regularly drops off her Italian greyhound, Sophie, at Great Dog on her way to work.

"I treat my dog like my baby, so I drop her off at day care," Fukunaga said. If Great Dog had to shut down its doggie day care, "I don't even know what I'd do."

The Department of Planning and Development cited Great Dog in May for breaking the city's land-use code. The business appealed, and the department is reviewing its decision.

City Council President Jan Drago, who is in favor of Great Dog remaining open, said she wants to sponsor a new law addressing the emergence of the burgeoning business of doggie day care. The council ultimately would have to decide whether the day cares should have restrictions similar to those for kennels.

Any new regulations would affect an estimated 15 or so doggie day cares in the city — as well as pet owners who have come to rely on them. Csokasy estimated six to nine of the city's doggie day cares are in zones where kennels are not allowed.

Great Dog has operated since February 2001 in a small commercial strip on Roosevelt Way Northeast near Northgate Mall, sharing the neighborhood with houses, condos and apartments. It also has a retail shop and grooming salon and offers obedience classes.

The day care is open Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dog owners pay up to $29 a day for the service. Some dogs are there because of health issues and need supervision and medication. Others suffer from separation anxiety when they are left alone. Some are just pampered.

On a typical day, about 50 dogs — big and small, puppies to seniors — prance, frolic, snooze and, yes, sometimes bark within Great Dog's supervised play area: more than 5,000 square feet of cinderblock garage and outdoor patios.

On decent-weather days, one or both of the garage doors are rolled up to allow for better air flow and to give the dogs access to the fenced patios, but that also lets more noise escape. The owners say the doors are now being shut at 5 p.m. to respect neighbors arriving home from work.

Csokasy said if the garage doors had to remain closed all the time, the number of dogs in day care would need to be reduced.

"It would be very difficult to operate," she said. "The fresh air coming in keeps the place cleaner and reduces airborne diseases."

Suzanne Anderson, whose condo is across the street, complained to the city about noise from Great Dog. She agrees doggie day care is a needed service, but questions whether it belongs in an area ringed with residences.

"My heart goes out to people who own dogs and people who take care of dogs," she said. "I just can't stand the sound of all those dogs across the street from me. You know what it's like to have one neighbor with a dog that's barking all the time outside? Imagine when you have 50 of them. It's just awful."

Anderson said she had three days off about a month ago and was looking forward to vegging out around the house.

But the noise from the dogs bugged her so much, "I felt like I had to get out of there. It was pathetic. Now it's summer and my windows will be open, so it will be even worse."

The last time Anderson stayed home sick, she said, she wore earplugs to drown out the dogs.

She said other residents of her 14-unit condominium complex dislike the noise, too.

Johnie Junell, however, lives in the same building and brings her pug, Katie, to Great Dog for day care a couple times a week. She said the noise from Great Dog does not disturb her.

"I rarely hear more than one dog barking at a time," she said. "When they do, I know the staff of Great Dog is really good at distracting the dogs and quieting them down."

Sending Katie to Great Dog day care has done wonders for the puppy's socialization and manners, Junell said.

She worries that if Great Dog is forced out, another business will move in that will be dirtier and louder — such as the stone-cutting shop that occupied the building before.

"For me, having a dog is the greatest thing," Junell said. "But I don't want a dog that I have to lock in the house for 10 hours straight while I'm at work."

Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464-2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com